Well...to say that the reaction i got this fic was surprising was a huge understatement, but like always i am really grateful to all my favorite readers and the way that they read after me so loyally. right anyway on to chapter two, now this skips two weeks or so after the end of chapter one and Zen-Aku and Justin have made a strange friendship at this point. enjoy.
Having a companion in the young boy named Justin Stewart was something that even he as a warrior org had not been expect nor did he know how to handle it in the first place. He had always been alone ever since Merrick had decided to fall asleep he hadn't had anyone to talk to or even growl at in frustration when the days got too frustrating: for a long time he had been sure he was going to go crazy at the loneliness that he was constantly surrounded with and that soon he'd be seeing things that weren't there and talking to the spirits of his fallen brethren.
But ever since he had first met the young boy who was friends with the rangers he had found that those fears that had always been in the back of his mind making him more defensive and more of a hindrance to his cause were slowly fading away each and every time he saw the young pup sitting on what he had deemed their log with his books awaiting for him to arrive so he could listen to the music he played every afternoon at the same time and same clearing.
Logic didn't really seem to apply to this pup who by all rights should be horrified by his form and have ran away the moment he had laid eyes on his two weeks previous when he had stumbled across him playing his Green Zeo Ode. But instead of running away and screaming the boy had sat down next to him and listened to him play for an hour before he had thanked him with a wide smile on his face and then skipped off back towards the city humming the songs he had just finished playing only to appear the next day earlier than the previous afternoon with a excited smile on his face and a bag filled with books to occupy himself.
What surprised the wolf org more than the boy's sudden interest in him and need to listen to his flute music was more his acceptance of the boy. Not once since he had situated himself in his life a little more than fourteen days previously had he tried to kill or maim the boy in anyway, he growled and snapped at the boy when he didn't something to anger him but even they were becoming few and far in between with him choosing instead to listen to the interesting and strange things that the boy had to say that made no sense to him at all.
Through merely listening to the boy who seemed not be affected by his reluctant to say his human name-it was made enough to be hanging around with a human pup and not killing it but he would not address him by his name-he had learnt that the boy had lost his mother early on in his life, so early that he had gained no bond with her, he also learnt that he was very close to his father and the bond he had with the male of his family was stronger than normal as to make up with the lack of mother bond the boy would have normally gotten. The boy was very smart being in a year below the rangers at school despite the fact he was several years their junior, this lead to having some very interesting conversations about history and everything when he learnt how old he really was.
By listening when he had his meetings and observing the young boy closely when he was with his friends he was forced into the shadows because of his figure-not everyone is as accepting and kind as Justin-Zen-Aku had deducted that while being extremely smart for his own god almost boarding on genius the younger boy had no clue as to the status of his friends being heroes and often got frustrated when they had to leave during the middle of their activities that they planned to do together. But at the same time he got to see just how close the pup acted with the rangers and how even though he knew nothing of them being rangers just how much he was awed and inspired by them.
The young boy saw the red ranger as a leader and big brother almost boarding on a father figure and did almost everything the other man asked him to do, in the pink ranger he saw a mother: there was no other way for Zen-Aku to describe it otherwise, the pink doted on him and made sure he was alright giving him the hugs he hadn't gotten from the mother that wasn't there anymore. In the Yellow ranger Justin saw a goofy sister who would let him have fun but then take care of him when he got hurt or into trouble.
But even from the shadows Zen-Aku could see that the two rangers that Justin was closet to and the ones he loved the most out of all of them was the Blue and Green rangers. Justin loved them there was no other way to describe it and they in turn cherished him, the blue ranger had practically adopted him as yet another one of his younger siblings despite the fact he has several of them already and played with the boy whenever he could even ignoring duties that didn't originate from the ranger life he hid from his much younger friend. The green loved the younger boy and always set time aside just to talk to the boy and listen to the boy vent or merely talk about his day, the two of them had something the other rangers didn't and often Zen-Aku found that Justin would go to the two cooler colored rangers to talk about the more tender subjects he didn't think he could share with his other friends.
Knowing all this made Zen-Aku feel closer to the boy then he ever thought he would ever get to a normal human, knowing the green ranger as well as he did didn't count at all and it wasn't as if he sat down and had a conversation with him and yet he had grown closer to Justin then he ever though he could think was possible and before he could even blink he had bonded with the boy and it wasn't even a small soft bond but it was a full on friendship almost pack bond and that was slightly startling to the wolf org who hadn't thought he could have a pack bond: ever.
Today was a good day or at least he thought it was, the sun was shining but not too bright and even the rangers weren't needed almost as if their enemies had decided to give the young heroes some time off. Which was why he didn't expect to see the young child he had become so attached to over the time he had gotten to know him, which was actually making him feel a little sad despite the other bonus's that the day was bringing him, but despite Justin's absence from his side Zen-Aku found himself on his long in their clearing playing his Green Zeo ode which Justin had deemed his favorite once he had heard all the other songs he had memorized.
Whenever he wanted to think of the other he would choose to play it and often his mood would rise and get better which was why he was playing it over and over at that time. "You're starting early" a accusing voice said happily making a total contradiction as to what message the speaker was trying to convey to the person he was trying to address.
There was only one person Zen-Aku knew who could convey two emotions as clear as the speaker had just done and were still friends with him enough to be able to speak to him in such a manner without a hint of fear crawling into his voice. "Maybe I got tired of waiting pup" he growled in a low voice lowering the flute as his companion bounced over to his side and took his usual seat next to him on the log.
Glancing over to Justin the wolf org noticed several things that were off about his tiny friend, something bad had happened to the young boy and he hadn't been able to find the green ranger to talk it all out of his system meaning his emotions were still in turmoil and wrecking a storm inside him. Zen-Aku cocked his head to the side and tried to figure out what to do in this situation: one of the main reasons that he liked the friendship-or bond-he had going with the young boy was that he had several friends to vent to when his human emotions got too much to handle. He and Merrick had been separate from each other for so long that he had forgotten a lot of what human's felt and hence had no idea of how to go about dealing with the emotions that laced everything that humans did.
Deciding to draw on all the experience he could form his observations of the Green and Blue ranger's comforting sessions Zen-Aku decided to approach the young human emotionally. "Pup…what troubles you" he growled questioningly drawing the others attention who stare at him in shocked and slightly bewildered eyes for a moment.
"W-what?" Justin stuttered out after a moment making the wolf org wonder if he had spoken in his native tongue and not in the English that the humans so preferred to use.
Snorting in disbelief at the stupidity of the response the wolf warrior spoke again trying to make his voice a little more clearer so he didn't have to repeat himself once more "I can feel the storm raging inside you little one: what troubles you?" he asked again turning his gaze back to the alive forest surrounding their sanctuary acting as a shield.
Justin sniffed and looked down at his boots and picked at a small hole in his jeans as he tried to figure out his wording before he annoyed his much larger and scarier friend with how long it took him to answer "My father" he begun softly "He has to go away for a while and I have to stay here, and we've never really been apart my whole life and I'm just a little worried"
Suddenly everything made sense to the warrior, he too had felt the same when he and Merrick had been separated finally and he had been granted this horrible body to wander the earth in, the uncertainty and unfamiliarity of being alone and not having the person who was always there to turn to always by your side took a little bit to get used too-hell he wasn't used to it yet and he had been alone for thirty centuries almost.
Thinking that Zen-Aku's lack of answer meant that he found it stupid Justin sighed and ran a hand through his hair making it stick up in all different directions "Look Aku not all of us are big strong warriors like you; I get scared and alone a lot and now that my dad is going away it's going to be a little bit worse" he said in frustration hoping his strange and other worldly friend understood where he was coming from.
"I get lonely" the wolf org said after a moment of silence shocking the other boy and making his draw a gasp that had a small grin quirking the sides of the warrior's jaws "I have been wandering the earth since before the rule of Caesar young pup alone without anyone to talk to or tell my stories to, I understand what it means to be alone"
Looking down as if ashamed Justin suddenly found the floor very interesting and nodded in understanding, "I didn't think of that" he mumbled and drew a loud barking yet still smooth laugh from the large warrior who nodded in understanding.
"Pup I would not think that you would" he said patting the young boy's head fondly making sure his claws didn't catch on any of the boys messy locks "You are still young and I am very old, I have seen many warriors grow and go through the same age and times that you are at this moment and while you are different from all of them there is one thing you will always share with them" he said grinned in tapping Justin on the forehead making him giggle "You are all forgetful teenagers"
Nodding in understanding Justin smiled and Zen-Aku could tell that the storm inside his young friend had been quelled which meant he could be to play again starting with the song of stars one of his personal favorites that he hadn't played in a while. But before he could start Justin threw his arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his cheek making him whine in confusion. "Thank you Aku…you mean so much to me" the younger boy said muffled into his neck.
Softening his expression the wolf org began to play his song all the while the younger boy curled up on his lap humming along with his music strengthening the bond between them.
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